


the way you taught me

by joshllyman



Series: sportsfest 2020 fills [18]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, M/M, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:28:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24940831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joshllyman/pseuds/joshllyman
Summary: Beside him, the kettle starts to scream. Keiji’s soft laughter carries across the cabin as he jumps slightly at the noise. Koutarou was too caught up in Keiji to notice.When the tea is done steeping, Tetsurou will politely offer a cup to Keiji and Keiji will politely decline, as always. Tetsurou has never asked what Keiji eats or drinks. He’s not sure he wants to know.Koutarou prefers citrusy flavors.(a sequel tothe weight of water)
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou
Series: sportsfest 2020 fills [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1789072
Comments: 8
Kudos: 49





	the way you taught me

**Author's Note:**

> prompt here: [ sportsfest 2020 ](https://sportsfest.dreamwidth.org/27747.html?thread=3183459#cmt3183459)

It’s early fall and there’s a gentle rain coming down outside the cabin.

Keiji is wrapped in Koutarou’s arms. Tetsurou has his eye on both of them as he leans against the counter in the kitchen, waiting for the kettle to boil. Keiji’s eyes are deep blue today, and he has smiled more than Tetsurou can remember ever having seen before. Every few minutes, he chances a glance out the window, but the rain seems to be a temporarily permanent fixture. 

Beside him, the kettle starts to scream. Keiji’s soft laughter carries across the cabin as he jumps slightly at the noise. Koutarou was too caught up in Keiji to notice. 

When the tea is done steeping, Tetsurou will politely offer a cup to Keiji and Keiji will politely decline, as always. Tetsurou has never asked what Keiji eats or drinks. He’s not sure he wants to know. 

Koutarou prefers citrusy flavors. 

While it sits, Tetsurou crosses the room and nudges Keiji’s feet out of the way so he can occupy the sliver of cushion not taken by his lovers. Keiji immediately replaces his feet in Tetsurou’s lap; they’re currently covered in a pair of Koutarou’s socks, and his right pinky toe is sticking out of a hole in the fabric. Tetsurou lightly grasps Keiji’s ankle with his hand.

“Tetsu.” 

Tetsurou looks up sharply, afraid he’s done something to disturb Keiji. But Keiji’s eyes are soft; his head is resting against Koutarou’s chest, and Koutarou has his nose pressed into the hair behind his ear. 

“Yeah?”

“It’s going to rain all night.”

Koutarou opens his eyes; he opens his mouth too, to say something, but changes his mind and looks at Tetsurou. Tetsurou feels the weight of both of their gazes heavy in his bones. Questions form rapidly inside his mind, arranging themselves in a list, sorted from most important to least. He chooses one down at the bottom.

“I’ve always wondered how you know,” he says lightly. He turns his gaze intentionally toward the window and watches rivulets drip down from the top to the bottom. “How long it’s going to rain, I mean.”

“I can feel it,” Keiji answers. “I could go into detail, but it’s not the most precise of sciences even amongst those familiar with...my anatomy.”

There’s nothing quite like a preternatural sense of the weather to remind him that his partner isn’t human.

“I’d say we’re pretty familiar with your anatomy,” he says, and that earns a snort from Koutarou.

Keiji smiles. Tetsurou can see the tension in his shoulders. He grips Keiji’s ankle a little tighter.

“I’m not expected anywhere tomorrow,” Keiji says. Trepidation in his voice, and the slightest bit of hope. More questions, endless questions. Tetsurou’s list becomes numbered and lettered with sub-questions and follow-ups.

“Are you asking if you can stay the night?” Koutarou asks. 

Keiji takes a deep breath. “If I wouldn’t be a burden, and if you don’t mind if I share the space—”

“Of course you’re not a burden,” Koutarou interrupts. He hugs Keiji’s waist tightly. Keiji’s eyes are still trained on Tetsurou, as if it’s his decision to make.

“Stay,” Tetsurou says firmly. His heart skips a beat, and he takes a moment to bury the feeling of hope soaring in his chest.  _ It’s only for the night _ , he takes care to remind himself.

Keiji looks back and forth between Koutarou and Tetsurou. After a moment, he lets out a breath, and the line of his shoulders sags with relief.

“Alright,” he says quietly. “I’ll stay.”

\---

Tetsurou can only hope Keiji doesn’t mind sleeping in the middle, because Koutarou had more or less insisted on it. He’s generally in the middle when they’re in bed together, anyway, but a whole night of sleeping is far different from an hour or two of cuddling.

He’s got his back pressed to Tetsurou’s chest. Tetsurou’s hand is draped lightly around his waist. Equal parts fear and hope slosh around in Tetsurou’s stomach, a constant stream of thoughts parading around in his brain. 

Koutarou shines in the dark of the night, his sleepy smile illuminating his face. Tetsurou can see where his hand is linked with Keiji’s in the tiny space between their bodies.

“Can you pull the blanket over us?” Keiji whispers, turning his head slightly to direct his words at Tetsurou.

“You’re not too warm between us?”

“I’m quite cold, actually.”

Koutarou takes that as a cue to scoot a little closer. Tetsurou pulls the blanket over all three of them. Keiji sticks one of his feet, the only part of him still clothed, between Tetsurou’s calves, and Tetsurou can feel how cold it is even through Koutarou’s ratty old sock.

Tetsurou runs a hand along the hard plane of Keiji’s stomach, up to his chest, and down his arm. Keiji shivers underneath his touch.

“Tetsu,” he breathes, his voice coming out ragged.

Tetsurou lets his lips drag along the skin of Keiji’s shoulder. Koutarou grips Keiji’s hip; Tetsurou can feel his fingers between their bodies.

“Let’s warm you up, then,” Tetsurou murmurs.

Outside, there’s a flash of lightning.

\---

The first thing Tetsurou notices when he wakes is the sunlight streaming in through the window. 

He reaches up to scrub at his eyes. His hand drags along hard edges instead of soft curves.

“Keiji!”

Tetsurou scrambles backward, the blanket wrapping around his feet and tugging away from Keiji and Koutarou as he clambers out of bed. Keiji’s skin is gone, replaced by bluish-green scales. His hands are webbed, his fingers long and clawed. Koutarou’s socks are in tatters around Keiji’s elongated feet. 

He’s never let them see him like this. 

Tetsurou can’t help but think he’s beautiful.

Keiji turns over, his eyes already opened and filled with dread. Koutarou is stirring slowly, reaching out for them in his sleep. 

“I have to go,” Keiji whispers.

Tetsurou’s throat is dry, and his tongue is stuck to the roof of his mouth, and all he can do is nod. Keiji looks at him for a moment, and if Tetsurou didn’t know better, he’d think there were tears forming in Keiji’s eyes. When he turns back to Koutarou, his hand twitches at his side.

_ Stay _ , Tetsurou thinks. 

Keiji swings his legs out of the bed. “I can’t—Tetsurou, I can’t—”

Wordlessly, Tetsurou slips on the shorts that Koutarou had discarded on the floor the night before. He kneels down and lifts Keiji under the knees. Keiji wraps his arms around Tetsurou’s neck, too loose, and Tetsurou stands. He stills for a moment, looking at Koutarou. Keiji turns his head away.

“I don’t want him to see me like this,” he murmurs. 

“Please,” Tetsurou says. 

Keiji turns his head into Tetsurou’s chest.

The ocean is exactly thirty-seven steps from Tetsurou and Koutarou’s front door. Koutarou had counted once, childlike and innocent, when they’d first found the little cabin they now call home. Tetsurou counts each step now, and in his mind he pleads with Keiji to tell him to turn around, to at least give Koutarou a chance to say goodbye. 

Keiji never does.

Tetsurou takes three extra steps into the ocean before kneeling down. The waves roll gently into his waist as he sets Keiji in the water. 

Keiji dips his head underwater and comes back up. Drops of the ocean run down his skin like rain running down the window. He won’t look Tetsurou in the eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he says. Out here his voice is different, a little louder and a little harsher. Waves slapping against the side of a cliff. “I never meant for you to see this.”

“You don’t need to apologize, Keiji—”

“Tell Koutarou...tell him I’m sorry.”

“Wait—please, don’t go yet—”

Keiji dunks underwater and doesn’t resurface. 

Tetsurou kneels in the ocean and wonders if Keiji will ever come back. When he turns back to the cabin, sorrow wades right along with him. 

\---

“You can’t go too near the ocean on rainy days,” his mother said. 

Tetsurou laughed. “Why not, mama?”

His mother looked stern. “There’s monsters in that ocean, child. They want to lure you in so they can kill you.”

Even when he was young, he was skeptical. He crossed his arms over his chest. “How do they do that?”

His mother kneeled down. Her eyes were serious when they met his. “Tetsurou...they’ll take your heart right out of your chest.”

**Author's Note:**

> there's at least one more in this series, from keiji's pov, if that makes you feel any better
> 
> socials at joshllyman.carrd.co


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